President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday sacked his Chief Security Officer, Abdulrahman Mani, for reasons sources described as overzealousness and blocking of people with genuine official appointments from seeing his boss.
This seems like a confirmation of the warning of Mrs. Aisha Buhari, wife of the President, that the first family would not take it lightly with any aide who tries to hinder access to her husband.
Buhari, it was learnt, asked the State Security Service to redeploy him to a beat outside the Presidential Villa and was immediately replaced by Bashir Abubakar, an Assistant Director of the SSS working at the Bayelsa State Command.
It was decided that the instruction by the President should be kept low, but Mani has been sent to the Ebonyi State Command of the secret government service.
No government official, including the security agency wanted to speak officially on the issue.
Recall that Mani first clashed with the presidency with his confrontation of Buhari’s aide-de-camp, Mohammed Abubakar and disobeying the memo issued by Abubakar, a Lieutenant Colonel, ordering personnel of the State Security Service out of section of Aso Rock.
Abubakar had instructed that trained Armed Forces personnel and police, would now take up the duties hitherto performed by the SSS within the inner section of Aso Rock and that the SSS officials should now guard the outside perimeter of the seat of power.
